


everything has its purpose

by wyverning



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Cats, Drabble, Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon, soft men in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:40:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22169533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wyverning/pseuds/wyverning
Summary: Against all odds, Andrew brings home a cat.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 4
Kudos: 116
Collections: AFTG Discord Telephone Round 1





	everything has its purpose

The cat is… fine, Neil supposes.

It looks like a cat. Big, round eyes, and a look on its face like it would rather be anywhere but here.

Neil knows the feeling.

He tentatively reaches a hand out, and the cat approaches, sniffing at his fingers. Neil has no idea what they smell like: the sweat from his morning run? The granola bar he’d eaten once he arrived back at the dorms? The confusion and wariness that has been cloaking him since Andrew showed up a few hours ago with a cat carrier and a blank look on his face?

Words aren’t Andrew Minyard’s forte: anyone who’s known him for at least five seconds surely knows this. Neil hadn’t been surprised to get no more of an explanation than, “We have a cat, now.”

Still, Neil is puzzled by this turn of events.

He doesn’t want a cat. He doesn’t  _ need _ a cat.

(“Wymack’s going to lose his shit,” Matt tells him on the phone, sounding absolutely joyful about it. “I have to go to practice now, but  _ please _ record it when you tell him for me?”)

Neither of these things changes the fact that Andrew has brought one home, presumably for him to… own and take care of.

(“Cats aren’t allowed in the dorms,” Aaron tells him blandly, like his brother wasn’t the one who actively went out and broke the rule.)

Neil’s only just learning how to take care of  _ himself; _ bringing an unsuspecting life into the fray seems a tad cruel.

(“I don’t get paid enough to deal with this,” Wymack laments. “At least it won’t cause property damage like a dog would. You’re the one paying Palmetto’s fees if they catch you.”)

His confusion has resulted in him ignoring the cat. The cat seems perfectly content ignoring him in return.

* * *

Neil curls up on the bed until he’s close enough to feel Andrew’s body heat without actually touching him. They’re both facing the wall on the too-small dorm-sized mattress, a pair of parentheses. “Why the cat?”

Andrew reaches behind himself and tugs at a lock of Neil’s hair. “Graduation’s in two months,” he says, like it’s a reminder.

As if Neil could forget. It’s something that’s been on his mind since even before winter break began: his Foxes have been leaving, one by one, going out into the world. He’s had enough trouble dealing with it that even Betsy has noticed. Losing Matt and Dan had felt similar to losing his mother, even though rationally, Neil knows the comparison is baseless. They’re still alive, and happy, and easy to contact.

He isn’t sure what losing Andrew is going to do to him.

“Are you going to take it with you?”  _ When you leave, _ Neil doesn’t add. Speaking the words out loud will bring them into reality.

“No,” Andrew says.  _ “She’s _ yours.”

Neil does not want a cat. “I don’t want a cat.”

In the dim light of the moon trickling into their dorm, Neil can see Andrew’s expression shift minutely. “Tough shit, Josten.”

Apparently, the conversation is over after that. Andrew tucks his head into his chest until all Neil can see of him is the strong line of his back.

Andrew isn’t known for his mastery of communicating verbally, which makes it difficult to parse what he’s saying. Luckily, Neil knows him far too well to be stranded without a spoken explanation. The trick to understanding Andrew is looking at his actions, not his words.

If Andrew had  _ wanted _ the cat for himself, he would have told Neil so. He’s been doing better, these past few years, with identifying the things he wants and doesn’t want, even if he’s spent the past decade forcing that particular word out of his vocabulary. 

But the fact that he’s foisting the animal onto Neil… it means something.

Neil doesn’t realize how intensely he’s considering Andrew’s motivations until he’s broken out of his thoughts by a soft  _ mrrp? _ and the gentle pounce of the cat onto the bed. It — she — moves toward Neil’s pillow and then settles into it, purring quietly beside his head.

Maybe… just  _ maybe, _ when Andrew moves north to join the professional team he’s signed with, things won’t be absolutely terrible.

Not if Neil has her.


End file.
